Boinnet orders crackdown on traffic offenders countrywide

The wreckage of a vehicle that got involved in a road accident along Bondo-Usenge road last month.  The operation on unroadworthy vicles is aimed at curbing the rising cases of road carnage. (Photo: File/Standard)

Nairobi: A major crackdown on unroadworthy vehicles was Monday launched across the country.

Motorists with faulty vehicles would be hounded to courts and fined after Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet ordered the operation that kicked off with multiple roadblocks being laid at various spots.

The operation targeted various traffic offenders as police warned it will be sustained for long to ensure sanity on the roads.

Boinnet said no one will be spared in the exercise as he called on motorists to abide by the rules whenever they are driving.

“Those found flouting traffic laws will be arrested and promptly charged in court. The operation will be sustained until sanity on our roads is restored,” he said.

This comes in the wake of revelations there is an increase in road fatalities in the country despite the existence of a raft of laws governing the sector.

Officials say violators of traffic laws include government drivers.

The vehicles include those of Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, parastatal bosses and even county bosses that have been notorious with the offences. Deputy Inspector General of Kenya Police Joel Kitili said they have been receiving complaints about some of the vehicles that overlap and cause accidents with impunity with no justification, hence the need for action.

“No one is above the law. The drivers carrying VIPs who are in a hurry know what to do and how. I have reminded the traffic officers of their duties that those flouting the rules should be charged without fear or favour,” he said.

 Kitili said the only vehicles allowed to overlap in case of traffic jams are ambulances, fire engines and police cars responding to emergencies. He added Kenya is a country governed by laws that must be followed irrespective of one’s status.

Kitili said they had received reports that some of the drivers cause accidents and escape from the scenes because they are on the wrong.

Traffic officers were summoned by their respective commanders and ordered to stop and arrest drivers of the vehicles flouting the rules on the road without fear or favour. Kitili also warned motorists not to block police vehicles, ambulances or fire engines responding to emergency calls.

He cited the law, which directs that emergency vehicles with blaring sirens have right of way. He said Traffic Act Cap 403, Section 119 stipulates that “every driver shall upon hearing of any gong, bell (other than a bicycle) or siren indicating the approach of a police vehicle, ambulance, fire engine at once give such vehicle right of way and if necessary pull his/her vehicle to the side of the road until it has passed”.